Hollow Hunters  Battle
by Le Queen of Morons
Summary: Ichigo fights a brain-washed Renji, while Ukitake and Urahara do battle with the culprit - Szayel Apollo Granz.    A short complimentary piece to Chapter 24 of Hollow Hunters.


_Ichigo vs. Renji_

"Renji, damnit!" Ichigo's voice grated from behind his mask in an angry shout as he drove his friend up and away from the group below. Despite the ferocity of the swings at his hypnotized friend, he was being very careful to give the two captains battling the Espada lots of room.

The last thing he needed was to be lanced by Ukitake's Byakurai or sliced by Benihime's Scream. Gold on black eyes narrowed behind the red-streaked white of his mask as he set the majority of his attention upon the crazed reaper before him.

Zabimaru's primal energy rushed at him in the form of a snake-like sectioned blade. Ichigo remembered all too clearly what those cruel teeth felt like when they ripped through flesh and bone. The teen dodged the side and deflected the vicious steel fangs with Zangetsu's razor sharp darkness.

Before Szayel had hit the red-head with the noxious, hypnotizing chemical, Ichigo knew the arrancar had somehow repressed Renji's energy, thanks to the disturbingly intimate knowledge of his reiatsu.

For once, Ichigo was extremely grateful for that limiter. Now that he was the target instead of the Espada, he didn't want to worry about containing Renji's bankai while countering the damn thing and making sure it didn't take any of the others out.

"Snap out of it!" The strawberry screamed fruitlessly at the ferocious pineapple as the teen dove for him.

Predictably enough, Zabimaru snapped at Zangetsu, and then slid along his length, leaving a wake of brilliant white sparks to die quick deaths in the gathering thunderheads.

Almost robotically, a muscular, tattooed arm was brought back, just before the sword snapped at the substitute again.

Kurosaki flashed back, then blocked the next frenzied blow, and was driven back by the startling force behind it. He grit his teeth with the effort it took to keep himself from being overwhelmed.

As soon as it was drawn back, he bolted in over reishi and thin air. Blood flew when his blade bit deeply into Abarai's shoulder.

As if the pain wasn't there, Renji simply twisted, and Ichigo found warm crimson spilling from the length of his bicep.

Renji again rushed at him. Unseeing, animalistic eye staring straight right through his opponent.

Behind his mask, Ichigo grit his teeth and met him head-on. The boy really wished he knew just what Szayel had done to the tattooed lieutenant, but the only way out seemed to be to either kill Renji, or incapacitate the pink-haired freak.

He didn't dare spare a glance at the other battle, but he did send a frantic plea to whoever listened that the captains could wrap up their fight sooner rather than later. Of all the miraculous things the teen could do, killing one of his best friends was not one of them.

_Ukitake and Urahara vs Szyael Apollo Granz_

"You've decided to join the party, hm?" The pseudo-scientist sounded entirely too excited about the shinigamis' appearance. For that matter, Szayel had taken entirely too much joy in blocking Benihime's powerful strike with his own Fornicaras.

From the shelter of his green and white striped hat, Kisuke grinned over their crossed swords at the demented Espada. "However could we resist such a charming invitation?"

Urahara fell back as Ukitake flew in with impossible speed to strike powerful blow at the pink-haired head.

"Tsk," Szayel smirked, as he simply stepped out of the way via sharply executed sonido. "Two against one? That's not very fair at all, is it?"

"I wonder," Ukitake shot back, easily blocking the Espada's blade when it swung at his neck from his right, "When exactly has your kind cared about 'fair'?" A flick of his wrist later, and the arrancar was sliding back from the deflection.

Pitch clouds rolled in around the three embattled men with preternatural speed.

Lightening radiated off the pronged tips of Ukitake's double zanpakto, even as the captain himself stood like a shining beacon amongst the gathering darkness. Pure white hair whipped with the furious wind, melding with the power of the roiling storm.

Behind him, Kisuke stood like a shadow amongst shadows – auraed with crimson tinged power – both beautiful and terrible at the same time.

The Espada only smirked at the display. "My goodness," he uttered, deliberately ignoring the elemental shinigami's pondering, "You two certainly are impressive, aren't you? Such lovely actors in this pathetic farce of a play." Lazily, he lifted a closed hand, even as his eyes wandered over Ukitake's billowing figure. He licked his lips obscenely before his wickedly wistful voice rose again. "The things I would love to do with your pretty hair." Suddenly, he pivoted and swung his blade at the other man. The impact of the block reverberated through Granz's bones like thunder.

As the bespectacled man turned with the blow, his gloved fingers spread from their fist dramatically. Black powder flew from his palm, but instead of striking the powerful captain's face, as he'd intended, it only settled upon the Ukitake's arm, eating away at the fabric there.

Before Szayel could make another move, he found himself blocking the other half of Sogyo No Katori. He gave ground, inch by inch, under the other's powerful and experienced blows. Pain lanced over his shoulder blades and back as the forgotten shopkeeper took full advantage of his distraction. He twirled, and grinned with pleasure when the ugly bucket hat flew from the blonde's head at the tip of his blade. Crimson dribbled from the shallow gash hidden by the sandy hair revealed. "Red suites you."

Turning to get both men in his sites, he glanced down at the group below and gathered deep purple energy within his palm. Just as he released, however, he found the infuriating shopkeeper shattering the cero with a shield of deep red.

"Tsk," Urahara intoned, "let's keep this between us, hm?" A maddening, dark grin spread over the shopkeeper's face.

Ukitake didn't give their adversary a chance to reply. Ordinarily kind, cheerful eyes had darkened with his raging tempestuous power – lightening flashed within their depths as he loosed a powerful kidou directly into Granz's gut.

The pink-haired Espada had managed to deflect the brilliance of the blue-white attack with another regal purple cero, but before he could follow up, agonizing pain lanced through his head, thanks to the sharp, booming tone from a contraption from below. Long fingered hands clapped over his ears in a futile attempt to block it out.

While the bothersome shinigami fell back – lost in their own worlds of pain – he cleared his mind enough to tear a garganta open and escape through it to the relative serenity of Hueco Mundo.

* * *

**FINALLY (it's only been, what, five months?)! Here's the complimentary piece to Hollow Hunters - the fights between Ichigo and Renji, and between Urahara/Ukitake and Szayel Apollo Granz! This goes along with Chapter 24, which I went through and cleaned up shortly after finishing this. I'd suggest reading through Hollow Hunters, or at least chapter 24 to get some more background to why they're fighting and whatnot. Or not, if you just like action without background. ;)**


End file.
